Elf collection brings holiday magic to Nekoosa home

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This is part of a weekly series. Each Wednesday, the Daily Tribune will feature a local collector and his or her collection. Send an email to Deb Cleworth at deb.cleworth@cwnews.net or call 715-422-6730 if you have an interesting collection or know someone who does.

NAME: Judy Steinert, 70, Nekoosa

WHAT SHE COLLECTS: "I collect many things, but elves at Christmas are a biggie," Steinert said. "I have them all over my house, and they only come out at Christmas.

"I have over 500, I know that much."

She does have her favorites.

"My first love is little felt elves," she said.

Those stuffed elves are about 4 to 5 inches tall and dressed all in felt.

"But I have many other (kinds) now," Steinert said.

HOW SHE STARTED: Beginning when Steinert was a child, her grandmother bought her a Christmas-themed item for decorating.

Steinert's love of elves began as a child, with the animated Johnson & Hill store elves in Wisconsin Rapids.

"My parents would take me up (to the store) and I would watch them for hours," she said.

Steinert's elves make their appearance the day after Thanksgiving, and are displayed throughout the house by color.

Steinert talks about them as though they are alive.

"They've lived with me for so many years, they are part of the family," Steinert said.

"The white ones live in my bedroom; the ones with beards live in the kitchen; the striped, checked and polkas ones live on the stairway," she said, adding that she only has one polka-dot elf.

The green elves are in the living room and the "odds-and-ends" elves are displayed in bathrooms and other areas of the Steinert home.

The sparkly, shimmery elves fill the top of china closets.

"We call them our Hollywood elves," Steinert said.

It takes Steinert a couple of weeks to get the elves in their respective homes.

"It's a task, but a fun task," Steinert said.

FAVORITE PIECE IN THE COLLECTION: "I have an old merry-go-round that is run by elves. The elves sit on it, and they look like they're playing, but they're not, of course."

A girlfriend gave the merry-go-round to Steinert many years ago and it's very old, she said.

HOW THE COLLECTION IS DISPLAYED: "It's all over," she said, with a laugh.

That is, of course, every room except one that boasts a collection that stays up all year.

"My (Wisconsin) Badger room doesn't have any elves; it's all Badgers," she said.

Compiled by Deb Cleworth, Daily Tribune Media

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Elf collection brings holiday magic to Nekoosa home

This is part of a weekly series. Each Wednesday, the Daily Tribune will feature a local collector and his or her collection.

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